


Watching a Movie (Johnlock)

by Rini2012



Series: Steps in Romance (30 Day OTP Challenge) [3]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: 30 Day OTP Challenge, Cuddling, Cute, Fluff, Insecure Sherlock, Johnlock - Freeform, M/M, Rini2012, Sibling Rivalry, Steps to Romance series, arrogant Mycroft, backstories, childhood drama, hospital recovery, mentions of Sebastian Moran - Freeform, post Season 1 episode 03, rewrite of season 1, standing up to Mycroft, watching a movie, why Sherlock and Mycroft hate each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-03
Updated: 2018-03-03
Packaged: 2019-03-26 06:24:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13851939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rini2012/pseuds/Rini2012
Summary: Mycroft wakes John and Sherlock up from their sleep at the hospital, but they're still cuddling. How does the arrogant and snobby elder brother react to all this, and how did the animosity start?





	Watching a Movie (Johnlock)

**Author's Note:**

> I shall explain what took so long: it's now Spring Break, but I was of course slammed with work right before because why on earth would professors want students to be semi-functioning right before time off?
> 
> *kill me please*

“Well, isn’t this just…  _ adorable _ ?” Mycroft said, waking Sherlock and John up.

John couldn’t help the embarrassment that took over and the need to get out of the bed. Just their luck that Mycroft had caught them like this; John was sure he’d never hear the end of it. However, when he tried to get out of the bed, Sherlock pulled him back in and held onto him tightly in a possessive way. It seemed Sherlock was trying to rub the situation in Mycroft’s face.

“And to what, dear brother, do we owe the pleasure of this visit?” Sherlock asked.

Mycroft sat down in one of the uncomfortable hospital chairs and leaned his umbrella against the wall.

“We were able to recover the missile plans you so carelessly offered to Moriarty.” Mycroft said with a sneer. “The fact that you would so  _ easily  _ give them up to that man is… disgraceful.”

“We eliminated the threat, Mycroft. You said yourself that there are copies of the missile plans and Moriarty said he could have obtained them easily. You might need to do more background checks, brother dear, as he had moles in every branch of the government.”

Mycroft could never see past the end of his own nose. Of course he didn’t much care that Sherlock almost died, all he cared about was the missile plans. It made John wonder how these two were as children, and also give a swift punch to the face.

“As ever, you have been reckless, and you almost took Doctor Watson down with you.” Mycroft said with a slightly raised voice. “When you are released from the hospital, I will make sure-.”

“You aren’t going to do anything to Sherlock.” John cut in. “Now bugger off.”

John could not deal with the Holmes rivalry right now. He had been strapped to a bomb only 48 hours ago, and had sort of gotten together with Sherlock. This was also a case of Mycroft trying to be a controlling older brother. As a younger sibling, John understood the ‘well-meaning but overbearing’ sibling situation since Harry was like that a lot when they were kids. It came in handy when dealing with bullies, not so much when John wanted to do something his sister didn’t approve of.

Mycroft looked shocked that John had snapped at him, almost as if John shouldn’t have  _ dared _ to shut him up. It seemed the power went to his head then. John merely sneered at the elder Holmes, and he could practically feel the smirk on Sherlock’s face. Mycroft cleared his throat and sat back in his chair with an air of arrogance.

“Are you aware of how powerful James Moriarty was?” Mycroft asked.

“Enlighten me.” Sherlock said.

“If you will sit up and stop acting like a child, I’d be happy to.”

“No, the doctors said I shouldn’t be on my back at all until the blisters have cleared. I am afraid I am doomed to be on my side or front until I am released, and I highly doubt you would want to see my backside during a conversation such as this.”

John couldn’t help a small chuckle that escaped him from Sherlock’s rebuttal. Mycroft sneered at his brother, and leaned forward in the chair.

“James Moriarty’s network spreads internationally in 54 different countries. His crimes ranged from assassinations, money laundering, smuggling, sex trafficking, and as you had seen, consulting those who needed assistance in criminal behavior. I am here to give you fair warning and defenses against those who would want to harm you to avenge Moriarty’s death. One man in particular would be determined to kill either of you to make that happen.”

“A lover of some kind?”

“Partially, but-.”

“Just have your assistant send me the details. Or better still, send one of your mindless agents out to take down Moriarty’s network, you live for ordering around subordinates after all.” Sherlock sniffed at the end of his statement to make a point. “Now leave us be.”

John was actually thankful when Mycroft left the room in a huff. He would not be able to take much more of the animosity between Sherlock and Mycroft. However, he definitely needed to know what the hell had happened between Sherlock and Mycroft to make them act this way toward each other. This wasn’t just normal sibling rivalry, and John had a right to know considering they were sort of together now.

“Alright, what happened between you two?” John asked.

“Mycroft’s very being happened.”

“I’m serious. If this thing with us is going to work, you need to be honest, not just a drama queen.”

Sherlock sighed against John’s neck.

“It would be a waste of time if I told you, John.”

“Come on, you’ve been fighting with him since we met, I should have a right to know.”

Sherlock didn’t say anything for a moment, then mumbled,

“Promise me you won’t laugh.”

“Why would I laugh?”

“You’ll want to when I tell you.” Sherlock shifted so that his back was to John, which only made John want to see his face more, so he turned over so that he was facing Sherlock’s back. “As Mycroft is seven years my senior and both of us were incredibly intelligent children, Mycroft started his studies before myself. He had become obsessed with geography (most likely the start to his desire to be in government), and insisted that the maps shown in schools were irrevocably wrong. He started to research everything he could about every country in the world and drawing out an intricate world map.”

“So schools don’t teach the right map?” John inquired.

“The map commonly taught is the Mercaders map which has countries that were less developed at the time of it’s creation being smaller than their actual size.”

“Huh. The more you know.”

“Anyway, I was not privy to this information and insisted that his map was rubbish. He showed me all of the information, and… I was wrong. He held it over my head for years for whenever I made a mistake.”

Mycroft… _ teased  _ Sherlock for being wrong? Seriously? True, John didn’t know about incorrect maps being taught at school, but Sherlock was just a kid. Was it not possible for Mycroft to have a sibling that wasn’t 100% informed? Apparently the ‘big brother complex’ still applied to even the smartest of children since to this day, Mycroft definitely thought he was smarter than Sherlock.

“There were other incidents that caused my dislike for him.” Sherlock continued. “He would repeatedly show off in a way that would make me look like an idiot, and therefore people would start comparing me to him, asking ‘why can’t you be more like Mycroft’ or banal things of that nature. Whenever I was right about something and he was wrong, he’d say, ‘Don’t be smart Sherlock, I’m the smart one.’ His ego became so important that he started student government organizations so that he could order subordinates around, and now he does that in an official capacity.”

John didn’t know what to say to that. Normally with someone he was dating (well, technically they hadn’t been on a date yet), he would cuddle them or give them reassurances that they were ‘better than that’, but this was Sherlock, he didn’t do emotional reassurances. Maybe changing the subject would work.

“So… why didn’t you push me away or something like that when Mycroft found us.”

For this, Sherlock actually turned back around to face John, and had a triumphant smirk on his face.

“My brother is perpetually single and I wanted to indicate to him that I am capable of finding a romantic companion. He claims that because he is in a world of goldfish, there is no one who could possibly be his match, therefore I couldn’t find one either.”

“Prat.” John said playfully.

They just stared at each other for a moment, not saying a word. They were observing each other in a way, but it was… a comfortable silence, which was odd. Usually Sherlock couldn’t stay silent unless he was either sulking or thinking, yet this felt so natural. Unfortunately, it started to become uncomfortable, so John cleared his throat and turned over to find the telly remote.

“Do you want to watch a movie or something?”

“It would be minimally better than being here alone without anything to occupy my mind.”

They put on some bad romantic comedy on the telly, but just watched it. Thing was, since Sherlock wasn’t allowed on his back, he had to stay on his side… so they resolved to cuddling in a way where Sherlock had his arm over John and laid his head on the soldier’s chest. John could feel his cheeks heat up at the first suggestion of that position, but he went along with it.

About halfway through the movie, John just felt like he needed to tell Sherlock that he was allowed to set the pace. There was something about the way he was ‘relaxed’ that told him that Sherlock was uncomfortable with all of this. He might have been out of his comfort zone just to be nice.

“Sherlock?”

“Hm?”

“You know, you don’t  _ have to  _ cuddle if you don’t like it.”

“If you are observing how I am slightly tense, it has nothing to do with boundaries.” Sherlock said. “It is simply how I cannot lay on my back for any extended period of time.”

_ Liar _ , John thought. He never thought of physical comfort before, so maybe… was it about emotions? Maybe Sherlock thought he was unsure about this relationship they were starting up. That seemed likely since no one ever talked about men or women he dated in the past. Or maybe he was afraid it would change things between them. It was hard to figure out, so John just went for it.

“You aren’t pushing anything, you know.” John admitted. “Whatever this is, I want to go along with it, and it doesn’t have to change things that much at home.”

He could feel Sherlock relax a bit from that. It seemed that he was spot on with what was bothering him. Was Sherlock really that insecure when it came to romance? He did say he had been in relationships before, so what was so scary about this? Was there a backstory to why he didn’t date?

John would find out soon enough.

  
  
  



End file.
